PROGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES, 1931 481 



The usual annual samples were collected from Prince William 

 Sound. In the Aleutian Islands district Marcus W. Meyers pre- 

 served gill-netted samples from Dutch Harbor, and additional frozen 

 samples of purse-seined herring were obtained from Lost Harbor on 

 Akun Island. 



PUGET SOUND SOCKEYE SALMON 



During 1931 an investigation of the sockeye-salmon fishery of 

 Puget Sound was started under the direction of J. A, Craig, with 

 the intention of solving the following problems: (1) Devising a 

 reliable index to the relative annual abundance of the sockeye sal- 

 mon in Puget Sound during the past 20 years; (2) the discovery of 

 Avhether or not regular fluctuations exist in each fishing season from 

 year to year in abundance of the sockeye salmon, and if such fluc- 

 tuations do occur at what dates they take place; (3) ascertaining 

 whether or not distinguishable races of sockeye salmon pass through 

 the Puget Sound fishery, and if so, at what regular dates during the 

 fishing seasons these racial migrations take place. Since the great 

 majority of the sockeye salmon taken in Puget Sound are fish mi- 

 grating into the Fraser River to spawn, these races, if their exist- 

 ence can be demonstrated, will be mainly races of sockeye salmon 

 spawned in various parts of the Fraser River system. 



Records of daily catches of individual traps in Puget Sound have 

 been collected, and these data are being used to determine indices 

 of annual and seasonal abundance. Since these traps are fixed pieces 

 of fishing gear and have been fished under the same conditions 

 through the period of time covered by the data collected, the average 

 catch per trap per fishing day will be used as the unit of fishing 

 effort in making the annual and seasonal indices of abundance. A 

 great part of the preliminary statistical work has been done, and a 

 publication dealing with this phase of the problem will soon be 

 completed. 



ROGUE RIVER STEELHEAD TAGGING 



The tagging of steelhead trout in the Rogue River, under the direc- 

 tion of J. A. Craig, was continued through the summer of 1930 and 

 the winter of 1930-31. These tagging experiments were undertaken 

 for the purpose of determining whether or not two separate popula- 

 tions of steelheads inhabit the Rogue River, one of which makes its 

 spawning migration during the summer and early fall months and 

 the other during the late fall and winter. If two races of steelheads 

 spawn in this stream, it appears that they must spawn either in dif- 

 ferent localities or at different times. Therefore it is hoped that the 

 tagging experiments, which will give definite information relating 

 to the time and extent of the spawning migrations of the fish enter- 

 ing the river at different seasons, will provide material for answering 

 this question. 



The returns from the fish tagged during the summer of 1930 con- 

 firm those obtained from the 1929 tagging activities, namely, that 

 the fish entering the river during the summer and early fall migrate 

 to the higher reaches of the river and spawn in the upper part of 

 the Rogue River itself, or in some of the higher tributaries. 



